Invasion of the baby-snatchers

I know the title is needlessly sensationalistic, but last week, due to an intellectual growth spurt, I felt like Raihana had undergone the experience in the title. Suddenly my docile, sweet-natured, cooperative, gentle little baby girl had turned into a little girl with an ego, a possessive streak, an awareness of what she wanted, and a spark of really quite irresistible determination.

I miss the days when I could bark “No!” from a distance, and she would withdraw her hand from the knives in the dishwasher, the peaches on the table, or the laptop. If she wandered off to the kitchen, and I was in my study, I could call her by name if I got worried that she had been quiet too long, and within seconds she would come pattering along with a question-mark on her face. When she put a coin in her mouth, she did it slowly, with guilt painted large on her face, staring at me the while; as soon as I did “thhoo” (the Urdu version of ptooey), she would immediately spit out the coin on my palm.

No more. She sucks the coin for a good few seconds, with relish, before I stick my finger into her mouth and force her to surrender it. She focuses more closely on the offending task/object at hand than on my “no” and my disapproval.

This also means her eye is brighter, her posture is more erect somehow, she is more of an intrepid explorer, and she is more of an extrovert as well. She is also more sociable with other children – and with Bhalu (her teddy bear) with whom she holds long loving conversations lying in the crib.

I’m still not sure if this is merely a developmental stage, and if it’s a coincidence that it happened in the same week that she started daycare.

Her hugs are still sweet, and she runs to hug me still, but the hugs are just a tiny bit less frequent, and she is less inclined to be lovey-dovey with me if she is preoccupied with a toy or a book.

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5 thoughts on “Invasion of the baby-snatchers”

My daughter has become “clingy”, she developed a cold since thursday and it’s driving me NUTS!!! I have stopped nursing her completely so she’s now “stuck” with her pacifier, we all go crazy if we can’t find it( I have an extra one just incase). I find that she mimics her older sister in many things eg, when R talks to me, she also tries to “talk” to me, it’s so funny🙂
Am looking forward to spending more alone time with her while R starts full-times school inshalah.

sf, Raihana never really took to pacifiers, but I still kept 4 around the house. One in the diaper bag, one in the bottle tray, one by the bed … It’s hard enough keeping one’s head together, then looking for the object you need adds another headache! I’ve never been terribly organized with her stuff, so I have to work around that🙂

welcome to toddlerhood.although i dont know that if shes toddler yet or not.i miss my boys kiss.there was a time wen kisses were no problem.now all i get if i ask for a kiss is a smile n turning of head to the other direction.

Quite normal social developement really and a strong reminder from our creator that every person is different and the individual personality is evolving slowly. It may appear to you “sudden” or related to that ‘separation’ but actually it has been slowly coming along for a longer time. Raihana is trying to tell you “I am also a person and I demand respect and I am (almost) on equal footing with you” Then the real phase of reverence for the parent will start setting in subsequently. Mothers sense that more often than fathers for obvious reasons. Gradually Raihana will be so to say getting away from you although will be coming closer in other ways but coming closer will be “intentional” (Muta’mmidan in Arabic,if you will). These are still days of enjoyment of your child though.
We had our own experiences as you are , I’m sure un-intentionally using your knowledge of human social developement. Of course our ‘social’ knowledge was related to ‘medical’. Enjoy baitee , maybe I have made some sense in what I am trying to say.